Having trouble starting your next thing?

Make a list of writers, podcasters, and YouTubers who are consistently pushing out great stuff – in the ugliest ways. Refer to it often.

I love slap-dash creators!

I won’t name names here, but they’re not hard to find. From the CEO who records videos on his morning walks to the dad on a treadmill reacting to comedians, there’s a whole universe of creators out there with massive subscriber counts who only publish rough drafts.

Their videos sound and look awful. Their blog posts go unedited. Their podcast episodes are recorded in a car because it’s the only quiet place in their lives.

But they’re doing the scarce thing. They’re executing consistently when most won’t.

Just to single out podcasts as a medium: there’s about 2.5 million podcasts in the most popular directory, but only about 460,000 are active (18%). Of those, how many are consistently delivering? 5%? 1%?

“The important thing is not being number 1. The important thing is improvement. That’s what makes you happier. It’s hard to be the best in the world at something. It’s not hard to be in the top 1%.” — James Altucher

I love finding YouTubers who record from their basements without proper lighting or sound equipment, and get 100K subscribers just because they care deeply enough about an obscure topic to press record every day.

Constraints are how it’s done. No “production” is required.

When you have something useful to offer, the value is in the showing up.

Recommended

This list of cool things people do with their blogs pairs well with my list of blogging prompts and having a style guide for your blog.

David Hieatt of Do Lectures published a little ebook on 24 quotes that changed his life, with commentary. So many people collect, but David publishes. Big difference.

Apple Notes became a meme and I’m loving it.

Derek Sivers believes restrictions (constraints) will set you free. We agree. This is a chapter in his revolutionary animated video book, two years in the making. He is the lazy billionaire.

This list of modern self-publishing resources is a rare, up-to-date and useful roundup.

Kit your sh@t (via Merlin Mann).

Cal Newport explains why you need to get an office outside your home or official workplace.

Want your content to actually be read, heard, or watched? The co-founder of Politico and Axios explains how his publications learned to write less and say more.

If you find this kind of thing useful, please let me know by replying here or on Twitter!

Thanks for reading,
CJ

P.S. Thanks to Chad Moore for sketching the previous issue on Twitter. It hit a lot of people (myself included) at the perfect time.